Overview
- The Consumer Affairs Department raised the procurement price by 13% to ₹2,125 per quintal, a change that took effect on July 4, 2026, and marks the fifth increase this season.
- Despite higher offers, government agencies have bought only about 2,000 tonnes since procurement opened on June 1, prompting the latest price hike to attract farmer sales.
- The Price Stabilisation Fund uses purchases by NAFED and NCCF to build a buffer that is released later to cool retail prices, usually around October.
- Officials say national production is comfortable at about 307.37 lakh tonnes and stocks in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are adequate, even as daily mandi arrivals exceed 50,000 tonnes and exports ran near 1.5 lakh tonnes in June.
- Traders and officials point to delayed monsoon, sowing lags in pockets such as Nashik, and speculative buying plus cheaper supplies from Pakistan and China as the key pressures that could shape procurement, prices and export demand in the months ahead.